Of Fish & Snowballs
by Sparrow Brown
Summary: Iwaizumi was determined to catch a fish that would make his father proud. If only Oikawa would shut up and stop scaring the fish away. (An Avatar: The Last Airbender AU)


Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu or Avatar the Last Airbender.

Of Fish and Snowballs

The northern wind blew against Iwaizumi's back. Its howl across the icy terrain was just as chilling as the cold air it carried. Iwaizumi held on tightly to his fishing pole as he watched the bobber dip under a wave and come up again. There wasn't much daylight left and Iwaizumi wasn't allowed to stay out after the sun had set. He was determined to catch at least one fish and his company wasn't helping him any.

"You consider this fun," Tooru said. He was peering into the dark blue water with a frown. Tooru had abandoned his own fishing pole in favor of wrapping his arms around himself.

Iwazumi ignored him as he watched the water still and the bobber sink down.

"This is boring, Iwa-chan. Let's do something more exciting."

The bobber came back up and then less than a second later it went back down. Iwazumi felt a flash of excitement in his chest. A fish was finally biting!

"Iwa-chan? Are you listening to me?"

He wasn't listening.

"Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi tightened his hold on the fishing pole ready to reel in his prize.

"Iwa-chan!"

Oikawa was louder than the Northern wind, his voice carrying out over the sea. The bobber Iwazumi had hoped would bob down, bobbed back to the surface rolling on the gentle waves of the sea.

"Iwa-"

"_Shut up_, Tashykawa." Iwazumi said as he turned to Oikawa with a glare.

"I... That's rude Iwa-chan. It's not nice to call people names." Oikawa sat up straight as he said this.

Iwaizumi grabbed his fishing pole and stood up, before he stomped off towards the tall ice wall that enclosed the city proper.

"Wha? _Iwa-chan_, where are you going?" Oikawa quickly got to his feet and ran after him. "Wait for me!"

Iwaizumi paused for a moment turning to watch as Oikawa ran towards him. The fishing line was loose, the hook on the end swung dangerously around him and Iwaizumi anticipated it getting caught on Oikawa's dark blue coat. Oikawa stopped in front of him with a huff as he bent down to clasp his knees as he caught his breath. When Oikawa looked back up at him, Iwaizumi had put on his best glare as his friend sheepishly smiled at him. Iwaizumi watched as the smile twitched and then turned down into a frown. "What's wrong Iwa-chan?"

"Father's sick and can't fish," he said. Iwaizumi allowed his voice to harden, he wanted his next words to be colder than the wind whipping at his ears. "And _you_," he said as he pointed his finger at Oikawa, "kept scaring the fish away, because _you _never _shut up_."

Oikawa blinked dumbly at him before raising to his full height. "Sorry." The word came out squeaky like he wasn't quite sure if he should say it.

Iwaizumi exhaled a long breath and turned around. "Come on it's getting dark."

"Iwa-chan, wait up!" Oikawa shouted out as Iwaizumi moved closer to the city. "I can catch a fish for you."

Iwaizumi turned to face him with a blank stare.

"Wha-What's that look for. I really can catch a fish quick. You need one, don't you?"

Iwaizumi looked at Oikawa who was wearing a bright forced smile.

"You can't fish." Iwaizumi said. Truthfully though Oikawa just had not wanted to fish and hadn't even tried to.

"Don't worry." He said with a grin. "I'll catch one super-fast and a big one too."

Oikawa started off towards the ocean with a fast stride leaving Iwaizumi to follow him.

Oikawa ditched his fishing pole in the snow and stared thoughtfully into the water, before closing his brown eyes and taking a deep breath.

"What are you doing?" Iwaizumi asked as he watched Oikawa move into an open legged stance.

"Shh, Iwa-chan. I need quiet to concentrate."

Iwaizumi snorted as he watched Oikawa even out his stance and began to move his arms.

Oikawa pushed his arms out before drawing them in towards his body again. A patch of ocean stilled as he moved. Slowly the water began to rock back in forth with his arm movements. His brow creased as he frowned in thought as he changed his movements. The water shifted into a miniature whirlpool and then Oikawa raised his arms up. This movement was slow, his breath audible as he grunted under some type of pressure.

Iwaizumi's eyes widen as the water formed into a sphere. The water on the outside of the sphere continuously rolled around it as Oikawa slowly lifted it out of the ocean. Iwaizumi felt his jaw drop when he noticed the silvery flash inside the orb of water. A fish! Oikawa had actually caught a fish!

Then the ball dropped, and the fish flopped on the icy bank for a moment before it flipped back into the churning sea water.

Iwaizumi snapped his eyes shut as the cold salty drops of water were sent flying into his face. Iwaizumi rubbed at his eyes with his gloved hand; glad they weren't too far from the city. Even with his thickest layers on the water droplets were making him feel colder than before. He looked up when Oikawa made a strangled sound.

"It was perfect." Oikawa said to himself. "I made the right stance. I did the right arm movements. It was perfect. So, _why didn't it work_?"

Iwaizumi could see the beginnings of Oikawa spiraling down. Despite being blessed with the ability to bend water, Oikawa had quickly learned that he needed to practice to master the element and practice he did. He dedicated his time to perfecting his bending until he excelled, becoming the shining example of what dedication could achieve. He was fifteen and his skills were still growing, but Iwaizumi knew that despite the praise, despite his growth (that was obvious to everyone else but Oikawa,) there burned a monster that fueled Oikawa to push himself further.

A jealousy of those he perceived as being better than him made him want perfection even more. He would work throughout the day and push himself through the night. Iwaizumi tried to help whenever he saw the dark shadows of exhaustion under his friend's eyes. He would stop by the practice area that the bending school used and walk him home. It didn't stop Oikawa from wearing himself out and leading himself down a road of injury. He was lucky the healers were knowledgeable enough to treat him, but Iwaizumi worried there would come a day when the damage became irreparable.

Today though Iwaizumi would make sure his friend shook off the negative thoughts swirling around in his head.

Oikawa stood by the water's edge with his shoulders hunched over and his mitten covered hands balled into fists. The snow around his boots liquefied a little, small streams of water danced and jerked around his boots as he fell into disappointment.

"Oikawa," Iwaizumi said.

"I _almost_ had it." Oikawa said through clenched teeth.

Ignored, Iwaizumi bent down and shoveled snow into his hands. The snow wasn't as hard as it should be to form a nice solid snowball, but he made do.

"Hey!"

Oikawa didn't turn around.

"Shittykawa," he said as he flung the snowball at Oikawa.

The snowball flew in a straight line, hitting the back of Oikawa's head. Iwaizumi grinned as it hit his intended mark.

"Ow!" Oikawa cried. The water settled around his feet again and he reached to touch the back of his head. When he faced Iwaizumi, Iwaizumi was happy to see that no darkness lingered.

"What the hell, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asked.

Iwaizumi shrugged. "It needed to be done."

"It needed to be done," Oikawa repeated. Iwaizumi took a step back as he watched Oikawa's eyes gain a mischievous light. "Iwa-chan, you broke snowball fight rules. Remember, being hit in the head hurts, so we shall not aim for the head.'" He said as he put his hand over his heart as if he was giving a pledge.

The rule had gone into place when they were six years old after Oikawa had taken a snowball in the face. Oikawa's mother had not been pleased when her son ran up to her crying, his face a bright red from the impact. She had lined up all the children involved and made them recite the pledge until they had memorized it. Iwaizumi could still remember her formidable presence as she glared down on all of them, her hands on her hips. He was more scared of Oikawa's mother than he was of his own, especially as she seemed to have an inkling that it was him who had thrown the snowball.

Iwaizumi held the apology on his tongue. He wasn't sorry for helping break Oikawa out of his trance. Instead, he looked up at the darkening sky. Winter was getting closer and the sun's descent was coming earlier each day. "Come on Oikawa." He called as he started to move towards the city. "It's getting late."

"But your fish," Oikawa said.

"It's okay. I'll go fishing in the morning. You won't even be awake yet."

"But Iwa-chan," Oikawa called.

Iwaizumi turned his head to look at Oikawa only to be met with white iciness.

The impact hurt. His nose felt swollen and wrong, while the snowball's coldness felt sharp on his skin. Iwaizumi knew his face was red from the hit, but anger twisted with revenge.

"What?" Oikawa said as Iwaizumi glared his hardest at him. "It had to be done Iwa-chan. You hit me first!"

Iwaizumi reached down gathering as much snow as he could fit in his hand and compacted it into a snowball. He threw it with all his strength aiming for Oikawa's nose. Only Oikawa bent water in front of him, the snowball hit the watery wall and melted into it.

"A snowball fight with a waterbender?" Oikawa asked. "Really, Iwa-chan you know better."

But that hadn't stopped Iwaizumi from making his next snowball. "That's cheating," he called as he compacted the snow into a ball.

Oikawa stuck his tongue out in response.

They fought until the sky went dark. Snow stuck in their hair and water soaked through their coats. Iwaizumi returned home fishless and to his mother's pinched face when she saw the state of his clothes, yet he smiled as he reminisced about the snowball fight telling her of his victory. It had been a good day. If only he had caught a fish in the end.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this work. :-)


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